P-W boys basketball team on the brink of first state title

The Pirates will play Detroit Consortium in Saturday's Class C state championship game at Breslin Center.

By Dean Holzwarth

It’s been a little over a year since the Pewamo-Westphalia boys basketball team suffered an early exit from the state tournament after a district semifinal loss to Laingsburg.

The defeat was tough to swallow for a team that went 18-2 in the regular season. It lingered for many months.

Sometimes a gut-wrenching loss can have its benefits, and it has served this year’s team well.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of motivation because of the loss to Laingsburg because we knew we would’ve been on that same path as them also,” Pirates coach Luke Pohl said. “Last year they had 8 seniors and we had two seniors. Those seniors wanted to win worse than my juniors wanted to win.

“We hammered that point down to our players all spring, all summer and all fall. It’s just been the last month we quit talking about Laingsburg.”

Laingsburg eventually advanced to the Class C state championship game before losing to Flint Beecher, 40-39.

P-W is enjoying similar success this season with a roster chalked full of seniors.

The Pirates (23-2) will play for a Class C state title today against Detroit Consortium (24-2) at Michigan State’s Breslin Center.

“It was a tough loss last year because we had high hopes,” P-W senior guard Adam Wesley said. “We know how it feels to lose like that, so it has kept us going.”

This will be the Pirates’ second appearance in the state title game. The 1993 squad advanced to the final game, but lost to Southgate Aquinas, 50-44.

More than two decades later, this year’s team is poised to bring home the program’s first state crown after a remarkable tournament run.

“This has been very exciting, especially for us seniors,” Kyle Nurenberg said. “We’ve been playing together all season long and had our ups and downs. To see it all come together is something surreal, and it would be a huge thing for our community to win the first one in basketball.”

The task of completing their journey, however, won’t be easy.

Detroit Consortium has won 14 consecutive games and is headlined by 6-8 sophomore Josh Jackson, one of the top recruits in the country and recent Class C Player of the Year.

“Josh Jackson is a special player, no doubt about it, but he’s still only a sophomore,” Pohl said. “There is a far cry from being a sophomore and a senior, no matter how talented you are.”

The Pirates conducted their final practice on Friday in preparation for today’s title game.

They were scheduled for a walk-through this morning before heading to East Lansing.

“These guys are really focused,” Pohl said. “Let’s face it, we’ve played in huge games already, so nothing is going to bother them.

“We saw Detroit Consortium play (Thursday). We have extra film on them and we’ve been talking to people who have played them and know them. I think we have a pretty good idea about their players and we think we have a recipe to give those guys trouble.”

P-W senior guard Nick Spitzley said the team is ready for the challenge.

“We just want to to put it all out on the court and give it all we got,” he said. “Just keep playing to the end. It would mean everything if we win this game because we’ve been talking about it since we were little.”

Notes: Spitzley was named this week to the AP Class C all-state team. Teammate Lane Simon was an honorable mention selection.